Thursday, 6 March 2014

It’s been a couple of years since
my last viewing of Martin Scorsese’s historical epic, Gangs of New York. It’s a movie I’ve seen several times since I
first saw it in 2002 as my first ‘18’ rated movie at the cinema. It’s a film
I’ve always had a lot of affection for. I found it strange then that on this
particular viewing, the movie had lost a lot of its charm.

Loosely based on the 1928 book of
the same name, Gangs of New York is a
dirty and blood-soaked account of the various gangs which vied for control over
New York City’s
Five Points in the middle of the 19th Century. Focussing
specifically on two characters, it takes historical context and real names,
mixing them into a world of fact and fiction with some glorious set pieces and
cinematic design. Having witnessed his father’s death at the hands of Bill ‘the
Butcher’ Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) as a young child, Amsterdam Vallon
(Leonardo Di Caprio) comes back to the Five Points as an adult to reap revenge.
He finds the Points much the same as he left it; a squalid and rat infested
mismatch of languages and races, the very thing which Cutting despises about
the area in which he is King.

Saturday, 22 June 2013

While recently discussing
beautiful actresses for last week’s Six of the Best feature, a friend asked if
Monica Bellucci was in consideration for inclusion on the list. I had to be
honest and say that although I knew the name, I didn’t know what the actress
looked like and couldn’t name any of her films. I was told that she was in the
film Irreversible, that it was
horrible and that I should watch it. Again, like the actress, the film and its notoriety
wasn’t unknown to me but I hadn’t seen it. The following discussion was filled
with reasons as to why I should and shouldn’t watch it and I agreed with my
friend bringing the film to work later in the week. I was warned however that
under no circumstances should I watch it with my girlfriend. I was to wait
until she was out or away or something, but just not in the house. Now I’ve
seen the movie, I’m glad I heeded his advice.

Irreversible is a movie which wants to make you uncomfortable from
the very get go. Its interesting title sequence features back to front wording
which seems to slide off the screen as the ‘camera’ rotates like the hand of a
clock while pulsating, barely audible noise plays over it. This infrasound has
been clinically proven to create anxiety, revulsion and sorrow when played to
humans and it successfully created all three in me. The plot uses a non linear
narrative to tell of two men who attempt to enact revenge after a rape. Beginning
at the end and finishing at the beginning, the film isn’t difficult to
understand and it’s much simpler than the likes of Memento. The structure is fascinating and works really well to
create at times, tension, panic, worry, and towards the end, a welcome sense of
calm coupled with impending dread.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

This 2002 supernatural thriller is based on the true events
of a 1967 disaster that struck a small town in West Virginia. It wasn’t a film I’d ever
heard of and had read nothing of it before seeing it. The DVD was leant to me
by a friend at work. I have serious problems with the idea, plot, direction and
acting but my enjoyment increased the longer I stuck with it. Despite finding
little pleasure for most of the two hours, by the end I was satisfied that I’d
seen a fairly gripping and occasionally interesting thriller.

Two years after his wife’s death, newspaper columnist John
Klein (Richard Gere) is driving south from Washington
DC to Richmond,
Virginia when his car breaks
down. To his shock he discovers that he has broken down far west of where he
thought he was and is in fact on the West Virginia
– Ohio border, in the small town of Mount Pleasant. The town
is home to some unexplained apparitions and premonitions which mirror those
that plagued his wife in the hours before her death. People even begin drawing
pictures that look like her own and when the predictions begin to come true,
Klein attempts to track down the strange Mothman who is spotted all over town.

Monday, 3 December 2012

Following on from 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, the second instalment of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy finds the
Fellowship disbanded. The plot follows what remains of the party in three
separate storylines which barely cross paths. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas set
about trying to find Merry and Pippen while killing as many Orcs as they can
along the way. The aforementioned Hobbits meanwhile end up in a strange forest
full of giant tree herders known as Ents and Frodo and his companion Sam head
on towards Mordor, determined to destroy the One Ring. It isn’t long though
before they are joined by another companion, Gollum, the former owner of the
ring, a creature torn apart by its power and hold over him.

Much like The Fellowship
I loved The Two Towers when I first
saw it but as my enjoyment of the first has diminished over time, the same can
be said for its sequel, only more so. In terms of how much I enjoy the trilogy,
this middle part is my least favourite, though not by much. This instalment
also has themes which stretch beyond the reach of Middle Earth such as
industrialisation and ecology. It also features a battle which lasts close to
forty minutes and is considered by many to be one of the greatest ever
committed to the big screen.

Friday, 30 November 2012

Paul Thomas Anderson’s third film and his shortest by some
mark is Punch Drunk Love, a
fantastically extrovert romantic comedy which combines shades of Coen-esque
humour and dare I say Lynch-ian motifs of magical realism and dual personality.
The film is unlike any romantic comedy I’ve seen before and personally I prefer
it to the likes of There Will be Blood
and The Master for which the Director
is better known.

Although the plot is often a bit thin and sometimes
incidental it concerns a lonely and occasionally awkward man called Barry (Adam
Sandler) who owns a small business that sells novelty toilet plungers. Barry
has the misfortune of having seven sisters, a situation which emasculates him
and causes him no end of hassle and grief. One day while at work Barry
witnesses a horrific car accident and suddenly ends up with a harmonium. That
same day he also meets a pretty girl called Lena
(Emily Watson). Sometime later, while lonely, Barry calls a premium rate sex
line, a move which brings about a lot more pain and hassle than even seven
sisters can muster.

Friday, 7 September 2012

I first saw this film when I was about sixteen on one of my
frequent trips to the cinema with friends. When one of them told me about it I
thought it sounded awful. I was used to seeing action and comedy films on a Friday
night and didn’t want to sit through a film about some family and an old man
dying. In the end the film completely shocked me and helped to introduce me to
the joys of cinema, seeing passed the Friday night popcorn movies to which I
was accustomed. It was also the first of many Wes Anderson films that I fell in
love with. I often site Martin Scorsese’s Taxi
Driver as being the film which opened my eyes to cinema but thinking about
it now, this film did the same thing, albeit to a lesser extent, two years
earlier.

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) is thrown out of his house by
his wife (Anjelica Houston) before their three genius children (Ben Stiller,
Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow) reach their teens. This has a far reaching impact
on all of their lives and none of the three grow up to fully reach their
potential. Playwrite Margot (Paltrow) stops writing, Tennis champion Richie (Wilson) retires ages
twenty-six after a breakdown and business guru Chas (Stiller) becomes overly
protective of his own children following the untimely death of his wife. After
years of being out of the picture, Royal decides he wants to become reacquainted
with his quirky children but ends up going about it in all the wrong ways.

Monday, 18 June 2012

A geeky high school kid, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is on
a field trip to a genetics laboratory when he is bitten by a genetically
engineered spider. Soon after he feels unwell but wakes up the next morning to
discover that he is feeling better than ever, can see without his glasses and has
new muscle tone in place of his once scrawny physique. Peter also discovers
that his reactions are greatly heightened and that he is stronger and faster
than ever before. After the untimely death of his Uncle, Peter decides to put
his new found attributes to the test and adopts the moniker Spider-Man. This is
just in time it seems as New York City
comes under attack from The Green Goblin and only Spider-Man can stop him.

I saw this film ten years ago when it was first released and
although I’ve never been into Comics, even I knew the Spider-Man origins story
at that time. At the time I remember thinking that it was really good but after
ten years I’ve changed my mind. Perhaps it is because the film has aged, maybe
it’s because I’ve seen it before or maybe it’s just because it doesn’t match
recent Comic book adaptations but this time around I was unimpressed.

Sunday, 3 June 2012

"Remember this, if you see someone doing something but at the same time watching you... then he is a cop"

Triad boss Hon Sam (Eric Tsang) sends a group of young
gangsters to join the Hong Kong Police academy with the hope that they will infiltrate
the department, rise through the ranks and help him to avoid the attentions of
the Police. One of the most successful of these youngsters is Lau (Andy Lau)
who ascends the chain of command rapidly. One of Lau’s fellow cadets Chan
Wing-yan (Tony Leung) is expelled from the Academy but secretly becomes an
undercover cop, hoping to infiltrate Sam’s Triads.

The film is full of suspense and suspicion as we go back and
forth between the two moles, both trying to discover the other’s identity while
keeping theirs hidden. The plot is highly original, complex and fascinating but
it’s a shame I’d already seen Martin Scorsese's fantastic remake The Departed because I knew how things
were going to pan out. Even though I knew the ending there were still enough
differences and surprises to keep the action fresh. The film also feels much
more like a Michael Mann film than a Scorsese.